


Peter Pan|Robin Hood

by boredomsMuse



Series: Misplaced Fairytales [1]
Category: Original Work, Peter Pan & Related Fandoms, Robin Hood - All Media Types
Genre: Fairy Tale Rewrite, M/M, One scene with transphobia from the sheriff, Trans Robin Hood, its short and he's shut down, now its gay, peter pan is evil but only while the pixies are controlling him, pixies are evil, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 05:40:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15574983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boredomsMuse/pseuds/boredomsMuse
Summary: When Peter Pan is young, he is stolen by pixies.A story about the lives of Peter Pan and Robin Hood crossing, and how that changes things.





	Peter Pan|Robin Hood

**Author's Note:**

> You guys have no idea how long I've been wanting to post this series and this story. I really hope you enjoy it. Shout out to ShanaStoryteller who didn't really inspire this story, but she did inspire the format, and I read her retold fairytales so often it'd feel wrong not to mention her. Plus they're really good retold fairytales.
> 
>  
> 
> [Feel free to check out my tumblr and bug me about which misplaced fairy tale i'll be doing next or other stories you want to see written!](http://kails-musings.tumblr.com/)

When Peter Pan is young, he is stolen by pixies.  

The pixies, you see, can’t help but be curious.  They’ve been watching humans for years and it never ceases to amaze them how unlike they all are.  Pixies have differing personalities, of course, but they all share the same beliefs. Trickery, chaos, cruelty.  Every pixie values these things.  Humans, however, can value any number of things, never quite the same to another.  Why they can even differ from the humans own past beliefs.

How can such a species coexist for so long?  They fight constantly over their beliefs and yet there they are, still breathing.  Is there a belief that is better than all others? If there is, surely it is that of the pixies.  But how to prove this?  Why, to take a human child and make it like a pixie, quite obviously.

Peter is not their first attempt.  They do not realize how hard it is, at first, to convince a child to be a pixie.  The children cannot understand them, and they are not fooled by Neverland long.  Either they bore the pixies with their tears and cries, or they become too old to handle.  With each attempt, they get closer, but never quite close enough.

The child they choose, they realize, must  _want_  to come to Neverland or they cannot be fooled forever.  They must not be an innocent, there needs to be pain on which to build the cruelty.  But how, they wonder, how do they teach the child to understand them?  How can they keep it from expiring?  

“Perhaps a fully human child is impossible.”  One pixie speaks up.  “Perhaps we need a child with fae blood on which to call.  No more than a drop, least they are more fae than human when we start.”  The rest agree and soon one of them is chosen to have a half-human child.  The child will not be ready for many generations, but pixies have more than enough time to waste thousands of years on this game.

Peter is the child eventually made from this match.  With just a drop of pixie blood, he is more human than anything else, but he is pixie  _enough_. Should all other requirements be met, he will be perfect.

To ensure this, the pixies do what they do best.  They whisper. They whisper cruelty and discord into his parents, ensuring he will lack innocence.  They whisper hatred into his peers, ensuring he will have no ties to the mainland.  They whisper assurances to Peter, promising him escape if only he asks for it.

But there is a problem.

His name is James, and he is Peter’s only friend.  No matter how much the pixies whisper, he does not heed them.  However, he does  _hear_  them.  It is strange, for no human has ever understood their curses, yet the child feels human to them.

“Perhaps he is like our Peter,” one pixie suggests.  “A drop of something inhuman clouded by human.”

“But what then?” Another pixie complains.  “Were it pixie, we would know.”

“It does not matter.” A third, elder pixie speaks up. “If we cannot rid ourselves of this human child, we will take him as well.  Let Peter keep him.”  All agree, and they begin to whisper in the ears of those James loves.  They spread hatred in his parents, jealousy in his sibling. Where once he was the normal kid who spent time with the outcast, now he is an outcast beside Peter.

“Bugger them all.” They hear Peter huff one day. “What do they matter, we don’t need them, we don’t need this place.”  Ah, yes, progress.

“Where would we go Peter?” James sighs.  He has not quite grasped onto the anger that Peter has, but they will teach him that.  

“I know a place.  We only have to ask, and they’ll take us.” Peter says.  Yes, yes this could be it!

“They’ll take  _you_ ,” James argues. “They’ve never said they’ll take me. They hate me.”  Peter frowns at his distraught friend.

“I want you to come, so they’ll take you,” Peter says, confidently enough they’re sure James will agree.  He does not agree, and the conversation ends with no call for escape. Perhaps, the pixies frown, they have already missed their chance.  They rather hope not, Peter is already so perfect, but he is also fifteen.  If they do not take him soon, they cannot take him at all.  They must have a child.

So, imagine their grins, when they hear Peter screaming the answer to their problems.  “I don’t want to grow up!”  He shouts, in midst of an argument with the parents they have made hate him.  They wait until the screaming match is over and then they go to him.

“You don’t have to grow up.” Says one of them, the one who has spoken to him the most.  Tinkerbell is her name.  “If you come with us, you’ll never grow up at all.”

“Really?”  Peter asks.  They’ve promised him much, should he ask for it, but they have never promised him this before.  “You can do that?”

“Have I ever lied to you before?”  She asks.

“I want to go.”  Peter finally says the magic words.  Finally, they may start their game.

“We’ll fly,” Tinkerbell says, sprinkling Peter with pixie dust.  He laughs as he lifts into the air, and he takes to flying as any new pixie would. Oh, he is perfect.

They are just out the window when Peter frowns.

“What is wrong?” Tinkerbell asks.  Surely, he is not rethinking, it is much too early for him to miss anything.

“I can’t go if James doesn’t.”  He says. “We have to bring James.” Tinkerbell isn’t happy with that. She is one of the pixies that doesn’t  _like_  the other human.  The elders think he will aid them, but already he has been nothing but a hindrance.  

“Don’t you want Neverland to yourself?”  She suggests, hoping he may be greedier than even a pixie.  What they have, they share with what is theirs.  

“No.”  Peter refuses.  “I want him to come.”  There will be no talking him out of this, she can already see.  Trying not to sigh, Tinkerbell agrees he may come.

Peter is grinning as he knocks on James’ window, nearly giving his friend a heartache.   _If only_ , Tinkerbell thinks.

“How are you doing that?” James asks when he realizes that Peter has not climbed up, he is  _flying_. Peter grins wider.

“I’m going to Neverland.” He says.  “I won’t have to grow up there.”

“Oh.”  James mumbles, his shoulders slumping.  “That would be nice.”

“It will be great!” Peter grins.  “Come on, let’s go.”

“What?”  James frowns, quickly looking back at his friend.

“You’re coming, obviously. I wouldn’t go without you.”  Peter rolls his eyes, still grinning.  “Come on James, do you really want to stay here? Grow up and be like our parents?” He adds when James still looks hesitate. The black-haired boy grimaces at the idea, looking back to his closed bedroom door.  

“Let’s go.  I want to go.”  He agrees.  Tinkerbell makes him fly and James laughs with Peter, grinning ear to ear as they follow the second star.  She must admit that she’s impressed.  In just seconds, Peter has convinced James to do something even the pixies weren’t certain they ever could.  Perhaps the other human won’t be as useless to their game as she assumed.

 

Through their failed attempts, the pixies have learnt how to make Neverland the perfect dream.  Peter and James fall for it immediately.  They spend their days surrounded by pixies, visiting sirens, messing with goblins, and indulging in all this magical land can offer them.  

As the days pass, the pixies tempt them towards darker pass times.  With full reign over these children now, the pixies cloud their eyes with pixie dust.  Things even Peter thought wrong become fun games.  The pranks they play on the goblins turn cruel and deadly, they enthusiastically join the sirens in wreaking havoc on ships lured into Neverlands ocean.  

The pixies do not celebrate yet, even as Peter becomes more pixie than human.  He is their perfect child, but he still ages.  If he were to expire all their hard work would be for naught.

The shift happens when he is sixteen, almost seventeen.  The pixies feel it as his clock freezes and Peter stops aging.  They couldn’t be happier.  James is a few weeks into his seventeen year when he too stops aging. It is not nearly as big a celebration, but the older pixies still grin.  Now they have two children, two immortal players in their game.

They move onto the next step.

It is all well and good to have made children more pixie than human, but that was not their only goal. They want to see how much  _better_  their Peter is.  So, they whisper.

“Aren’t you bored of just the two of you?”  They suggest. “Wouldn’t it be more fun to have others? You could play larger games, and boss them around.”  It does not take much for Peter to like the idea.  He was always rather possessive and controlling, and the pixies have pushed him into the deep end of unhealthy.  

James is more hesitate. He has always been more hesitant, the pixies have noticed.  But when Peter decides something, he goes along.  Eventually, the pixies convince him he enjoys it.

The first lost boys, as Peter has named them, are older than the pixies would have liked.  They will be unruly and unresponsive, the pixies knew. This turns out to be for the best. Peter doesn’t like that they don’t listen to him, that they don’t give in.  The pixies are happy to whisper a solution: get rid of them.

The first time Peter kills they almost lose him.  The moment the lost boy draws his last breath, Peter seems to remember his humanity. He stares, wide-eyed, at the blood on his sword.

“Why did I do that?” He whispers, taking a step backwards. He is no longer flying.  The dead boy slumps forward, blood leaking into the soil. The pixies frown, they did not have this trouble when they made him kill goblins and sink ships.  But then, goblins are nothing like humans and the sirens drowned the sailors, not Peter.  Perhaps they underestimated the effect of this.

They must make the humans seem Other, Tinkerbell herself quickly realizes.  Peter must distance himself from humans or this may never work.

“It was just a toy.” She tells him.  “A broken toy you did not want anymore.  Nothing more than that.”  She clouds him with pixie dust as she says it, works her best magic.  She orders the pixies to make the other boys forget this one, and she continues to work her spell.  By the morrow, Peter has forgotten his lost boys are human at all.

When James kills for the first time, the pixies are prepared.  They drown his vision in magic, he hardly sees the boy he kills. “Peter doesn’t want this toy,” they tell him, they no longer refer to the lost boys as humans, especially not at times like these.  “Won’t you do this favour for your friend?”

The next lost boys are children, they are easy to manipulate.  Of course, they age.  But Peter and James take care of them when they get too old.  Their game is a success.

 

Tinkerbell has always known James would be a problem.  No matter how pixie Peter becomes, he cares too much for James.  What James wants, Peter wants.  She does not like it, but James is weak, so she accepts it.  He looks to Peter like a pixie to an elder, he will follow Peter to the ends of Neverland.  Still, Tinkerbell watches him closely.  

She does not like when he becomes attached to a lost boy, one of the older ones.  Peter sees the boys as toys, always, but they can only even convince James of that when he is drowned in pixie dust.  That much pixie dust is dangerous, both for the pixies and James, they dare not risk doing it more than they must.  “It doesn’t trust us enough,” one of the elders explains when Tinkerbell complains.  “It is our fault for not realizing sooner we would need it.”

“We don’t need it,” Tinkerbell argues.  “We should get rid of it.”

“Peter cares for it, we could lose him if we take James away.”  The elder says.  Tinkerbell is too young to remember humans are strange, even at their cruellest they can still ‘care’.  Pixies will never understand such things, but the older ones remember it.  “These lost boys seem to remind James of its humanity. If we are only patient, it will leave Peter of its own free will.  We will rid ourselves of it then.”

“Is there nothing we can do to sped up the process?”  Tinkerbell presses.  “Surely we can’t risk Peter trusting it more than us.”

“That is a concern.” She agrees with a hum.  “Perhaps we should encourage its attachment to this lost boy, use it to breed distrust.  Should it start to see the truth of Neverland after that we will have little to worry about.”  Tinkerbell grins at her orders.  She will enjoy this.

Pixies do not often bother with positive human emotions, but they can whisper those all the same.  It does not take much to deepen the lost boy's interest and she sets James’ keeper to convincing it to accept the lost boy’s advances.  Of course, magic takes time, and Tinkerbell takes that time to warn Peter.

“You should get rid of it, it’s getting too old.”  She says, leaving suggestion out of her voice.

“James likes it, we can keep it a little longer.”  Peter brushes her concerns off, just as she expected him to.

“But what if James starts to like it more than you?”  Tinkerbell suggests hiding her grin when Peter frowns.

“That would never happen.” He dismisses.  “James knows he’s mine.”

“If you say so Peter.” She adds, for good measure, before letting the matter drop.

 

Her words make Peter suspicious, as she knew they would.  He starts to watch them interact and bitterness starts to settle in his heart. Peter has felt plenty bitter before, but never towards James.  The pixies use this to change him.  Tinkerbell had thought Peter more pixie than human before, now they have made him hardly human at all.

Once the bitterness has grown, and his care has been all but erased with possessiveness, Tinkerbell takes the last step of her plan.  James’ keeper convinces him to follow the lost boy to a secluded section of the wood, where another annoyance of age guides their actions.

They’re much too far to hide it when Peter nears, though they try.  As James stutters out excuses, Tinkerbell pushes Peter’s emotions the way she wants them.  James cuts off as his lost boy is killed.  Peter forces him up by the collar of his rumpled shirt.

“ _You are mine_.”  He growls, eyes gold with pixie dust.  “ _They_  are nothing to you.”

“Y-yes Peter.”  James stutters, wide-eyed and terrified.  He’s seen Peter like this when his vision was gold-tinted, but Peter’s has never been this way to him.

“I don’t need things that won’t listen to me.”  Peter threatens, his sword still covered with blood as he raises it.  

“I’m sorry P-peter.” James manages.  “It, it won’t happen again, I’m yours, I know.”  He adds, trying to think of anything to pacify his friend’s anger.

“How do I know you’re not lying?”  Peter demands, glaring at his shaking friend.

“Please, Peter, I swear it. I won’t, never again.”  James tries to convince him, but Tinkerbell is working against him.  He will not win.

“A punishment,”  Peter says, in time with Tinkerbell.  James pales, muttering apologies and begging Peter not to do it.  Peter can’t hear him through the pixie dust, he raises his sword and James screams as his hand is cut from the wrist.  Tinkerbell had hoped Peter would simply kill him but this, she decides, is better. “You are forbidden from camp tonight.” He adds, finally letting James crumple to the forest floor.

As Peter walks away, James realizes the same thing Tinkerbell relishes in.  There is no more humanity in Peter Pan, it has been drowned out by the pixie dust.  Peter does not look back, but Tinkerbell does.  She smirks at him and watches the dust fall from James’ eyes.

He no longer wishes to be in Neverland, it cannot lie to him anymore.  Not that it matters, there is no way for him to leave.  There are sirens in the sea, pixies in the sky.  He will die before he leaves, by magical hands or Peter’s own it matters not.  James Hook is no threat to them.

 

Tinkerbell’s sense of victory does not last.  She expects James to have died in the night, or try to run, or return terrified.  He does none of these things.  When he returns he begs Peter’s forgiveness and promises he’s learnt his lesson, but he does not seem  _scared_.  He plays it, almost as perfectly as a pixie, but Tinkerbell can tell it is an act.

Peter cannot.  He lets James return, words laced with possession rather than care now.  Tinkerbell still bristles with pride, knowing she has erased his last bit of humanity, but James does not react.  He settles back into life on Neverland, technically at Peter’s side thought they are anything but equals now.  James takes it all in stride, even his missing hand does not seem to cause him pause.

It infuriates Tinkerbell.

How can James be unbothered? No human has seen Neverland for its truth and not gone insane.  Yet James pretends the dream goes on.  He seems stronger than he ever was, and Tinkerbell cannot understand it.  

Perhaps losing their control over him has had worse consequences than they considered. Perhaps there was much more to James then they had ever allowed to come to light.

No matter, Tinkerbell tells herself.  It is not as though James is a threat, no matter how contained their magic had kept him. All the same, she resolves to watch him closer now.  The elders still do not want to kill him, but hopefully, she will find something that will convince them otherwise.  

Despite her resolve, James keeps slipping through her fingers.  He seems to spend little time at camp, involving himself only enough that Peter cannot be convinced of his vanishings.  Tinkerbell has no doubt that he is up to something, though she can’t imagine what.  There is no way for him to save Peter and no way for him to escape.  

Except, Tinkerbell is wrong.

There is a way for James to escape, and her name is Willowflower.  She’s hardly a pixie, unable to find enjoyment in their games and never seeking to be cruel.  So unlike the rest, Willowflower was cast out long ago and expected to be killed off by something more cunning.

Instead, she survived, thrived even.  When James stumbles upon her she has all the resources and needs only his planning to be ready.  The other pixies would never allow them to escape by flight, but James knows the sirens and they do not always align themselves with pixies.  They are quite impressed with him, when they see his eyes dust free, and they already know their voices are lost on him.  When the raft is ready, and Willowflower has stored enough pixie dust, the sirens permit them safe travel through the seas.  James Hook becomes the first to escape Neverland.

Not that Tinkerbell would ever know such details.  All she knows is that he escapes, and they cannot find him.  Peter is furious, but not quite as furious as Tinkerbell.  She has lost, and she does not like it.

“Is that not what makes the humans so much fun?”  The elder asks her when she makes her report.  “Nothing else could have done as it did.”

“It was not  _all_  human,”  Tinkerbell argues, recalling that unrecognizable drop.  “That was the only reason it won.”  The elder just chuckles.

“You should be happy.” She says.  “It is gone for good now.  If there was any hope of Peter’s humanity returning, it left with it.” Yes, Tinkerbell supposes, at least there is that.

 

There is that, at least, until James returns.  Tinkerbell knows it’s him, even before the ship lands.  No one else could have arrived unwelcomed.  The lost boys are curious, Peter leads them to the beach where the ship stops, and they watch as the men,  _men_ , come ashore.

Sure enough, James Hook leads them.  He has aged since he left, though not as much as he should have, and he has a metal hook in place of his missing hand.  He steps out of the boat first, walking too calmly towards the group of children.  

“Hello Peter.”  He greets, even as he recognizes how little of his friend there really is.

“You grew up.”  Peter accuses, frowning.  “How dare you.  You’re a traitor.”  James sighs, like he hoped for something else even if he never expected it.  He turns to the lost boys, his crew coming to his back. They look unnerved, but not quite fearful of the group.

“We’re here to take you home,”  James tells the lost boys.  “To the families you’ve forgotten.”

“We don’t want to go home,” Peter answers for them, glaring at James before turning with a cruel grin to his lost boys.  “These are pirates!”  He announces.  “They want to force us to grow up, but we won’t let them, will we boys?”  

“No!”  The lost boys cheer as they raise they swords.  James is unmoved, unsurprised, while his crew gapes. No prewarning could prepare them for this sight.

“Charge!”  Peter orders and the lost boys attack.

 

Nothing they do will make James leave, and the adults he brings are too prepared to fall for pixie dust. At least they are easier to kill than James.  The lost boys, or pixies, or age itself gets to them eventually.  

Still, they manage to save more lost boys than Tinkerbell would like.  Some they have to drag away from Neverland, others they help disillusion, some go willingly to the pirates.

Tinkerbell’s rage grows with every boy that is saved, as does Peter’s.  She is sure he would kill his once friend, if only he got the chance. And he should have  _plenty_  of chances, James is relentless in his attempts to save Peter.  Yet every time he escapes unharmed.

In response, Tinkerbell convinces Peter to steal away more and more lost boys.  She teaches him to find the ones that most want to come to Neverland, they’ll be the ones least likely to leave.

It is this feeling that leads Peter to Wendy.

She is older than their lost boys, Tinkerbell warns, and she is a girl.  Girls are notorious for being forced to mature much too early.  Where magic is concerned, they are adults long before their age announces such.  

“She doesn’t just want to leave, she doesn’t want to grow up,”  Peter argues.  “That’s the best reason for her to come, and there’s never been a girl on Neverland. Won’t it be fun to see what happens?”

“Perhaps, but you’ll kill her if she proves too unruly, won’t you Peter?”  Tinkerbell checks.

“Of course,”  Peter assures before he slips into the girl’s bedroom and convinces her to follow him.  

She is interesting, Tinkerbell must admit.  Wendy takes to Neverland the same way Peter did, and she is manipulated by it the same way too.  The problem is, Peter seems to grow attached.  He likes having someone his age that listens to him, it’s much different to the younger lost boys he says.  

“James was your age,” Tinkerbell warns.  “Look what happened with him.”

“This is different,” Peter claims.  Tinkerbell fumes.  Sometimes she wishes she could take all his free will and rid herself of these problems completely.  Unfortunately, there are limits to even her whispers.  She can make him murder or torture, but there has to be some negative emotion to build on, and she cannot control how he does such things, only ensure he does them.  Peter feels no negative emotions towards Wendy.  She does not like where this is going.

 

Tinkerbell likes it even less when Peter decides to leave Neverland on a day she does not suggest it. “Where are we going Peter?  Don’t you want to go back to play with the lost boys?”  She tries.

“I can feel something interesting.”  Peter answers.  “They don’t want to grow up, but it’s odd.  I want to know why that is.”

“If it’s odd we can’t be sure they’ll want to come to Neverland.  It is a waste of time.”  Tinkerbell protests.  

“Stop complaining Tink.” Peter brushes her off.  Tinkerbell sighs and hopes this will end quickly.

 

The feeling leads Peter to a small, rundown building.  He looks through a window and finds a room lined with beds.  It’s an orphanage, he knows.  Peter has led more than one boy from them before.  He looks over the beds, trying to spot the person who led him here but sees only a handful of sleeping children.  How strange.  

“Don’t you want to head back to Neverland now?”  Tinkerbell says.  “We already have enough lost boys.”

“Only Wendy is any fun,” Peter complains.  “All the others are annoying.  Even playing pirates is no fun, I always lose.”  James still captains the ship, acting like he owns Neverland when Peter is really it’s King.  Tinkerbell has said so many times.

“What was that?”  Peter perks up at the young voice that seems to come from above.  Carefully, quietly, Peter flies up until he spots him.  Sitting on the orphanage roof is the boy he’s come to find, a brown-haired kid wearing an odd green hat and threadbare clothes.

“Who knows Robin, it’s the city there are a thousand noises.”  Peter frowns at the second voice, looking passed the boy to spot the girl sitting with him.  She doesn’t feel like someone that should come to Neverland.  Peter’s frown deepens, he can’t talk to Robin himself if she’s there.  He’ll have to wait.

“We should come back later, let’s return to Neverland.”  Tinkerbell tries again, tugging on Peter’s shirt.

“Shush Tink.”  He hushes.

“You’re being paranoid.” The girl tells Robin.

“So I should be Marian!”  Robin huffs. “I almost got caught today.  If I’m caught now I’m screwed, I’m too old to get away with crying.”

“Then just be glad you didn’t get caught.”  Marian sighs. “Or maybe take this as a sign.”

“No.”  Robin already refuses.

“Robin, come on, we both know this isn’t going to last forever.”  She says.

“I’m not going to a workhouse, you’ve seen the boys that come out of there.  I don’t want that.”  Peter has no idea what they were talking about, but he’s already interested. Was this why Robin felt so odd? He’d already taken a step into adulthood and was regretting it?  No, if he’d taken the first step Neverland wouldn’t want him.  Peter wouldn’t want him.

“I can run the Merry Men, you know.  I’m a girl, I’m never too old to get away with crying.”  Marian offers.  

“I know you could Marian, but that’s besides the point,”  Robin says.  “It’s my Merry Men, and if we get found out it’s my responsibility.  I’m not passing it on.”  Peter frowns.  That was a rather grown-up thing to say, maybe it was just a fluke?  He hopes not.

“We’re talking in circles then,”  Marian says. “Which is pointless because we should be sleeping, we have mending to do in the morning.  Not to mention Merry Men business, you’ll be even more likely to be caught it your tired.”  She adds, standing and stretching.  Peter quickly ducks out of sight when she heads his way.

“You’re right.”  Robin sighs, following her lead.

“I’m always right.” Marian grins.  One after the other, they climb off the roof and into an open window.  

“See, there is nothing interesting here,”  Tinkerbell says once they’re gone.  “They’re both too grownup for Neverland.”

“But the boy clearly didn’t want to become  _more_  grownup.”  Peter points out, still staring after them.

“So?  That’s his problem, not yours.”  Tinkerbell huffs, crossing her small arms and turning her nose away from the orphanage.  “We should go back to the lost boys, what if the pirates got to them?”  

“I’m sure Wendy can handle it for a few days,”  Peter assures.

“A few days?!” Tinkerbell repeats, practically shrieking the words.

“That should be more than enough time to find out what’s going on and convince Robin to come to Neverland.”  Peter grins. “I think he’ll be a challenge, it’ll be fun.”  Mind made up, Peter quietly lands on the ground.  An orphanage is a place for kids without parents, right?  Well, he doesn’t have parents.  He bets they’ll take him in no problem.

Peter’s right, the man running the orphanage lets him in without a question.  The old man, Friar Tuck, leads him through the church and up to the rooms where Peter finally meets Robin.

“Robin, you should be asleep.”  The old man scolds, tone light.

“Sorry Friar Tuck,” Robin says dismissively.  “Who’s this?”  He quickly turns the conversation to Peter.  The ageless boy likes him already, even if he is looking at Peter suspiciously.

“Robin, this is Peter. He’ll be staying with us from now on.” Friar Tuck introduces.

“Hi!”  Peter can’t hold back his grin, stepping up close to Robin.

“Uh, hi.”  Robin returns, leaning back out of Peter’s personal bubble.

“I’ll let you both get some rest.”  Friar Tuck says.  “Goodnight Robin, goodnight Peter.  Feel free to take any free bed.”

“Night Friar Tuck.” Robin replies, Peter doesn’t bother. He’s already interacted with the grown-up more than he ever wanted to.  

“So, what’s it like here?” Peter asks Robin as the door slips shut. Robin frowns, settling into his bed.

“Usually quiet.”  He says.  Peter frowns when he sees the two beds next to Robin are taken, in fact, there are none especially close to him at all.  He’ll have to get Tinkerbell to take care of that.  “Goodnight,”  Robin says before Peter can ask any more questions.  Peter doesn’t usually like when people are so dismissive of him, at least on Neverland, but here it just adds to the challenge.  He’s looking forward to flying Robin to Neverland.

 

The mainland is horribly boring, Peter quickly discovers.  No wonder he has no trouble finding lost boys, who would want to stay in a place like this?  His first day at the orphanage he’s put to work helping the mending.  Marian goes on and on about how they need to do it so Friar Tuck has enough money to look after them.  Peter hates it.

It doesn’t help his mood that Robin avoids him.  In fact, that just makes it all worse.  Peter just can’t get a moment alone with the reason he’s here.  Maybe the challenge isn’t worth it.  

They keep trying to get him to eat too, which Peter thinks is stupid.  He never gets hungry on the mainland, and even if he did Tinkerbell’s told him not to eat their food.  

“Don’t you think this place is boring?”  Tinkerbell asks when they’re alone.  “Don’t you want to go home Peter?”  

“No,”  Peter says firmly.  Even if this game isn’t quite as fun as he thought he wasn’t about to back out. That’d be like losing, and he’s sick of losing.  “I’m not going back unless Robin comes with me.”  Tinkerbell’s not happy to hear that, not at all.  She doesn’t talk to Peter for the rest of the day.

 

That night, Peter hears Robin sneaking out of the room again and quickly follows him.  Annoyingly, Marian’s already waiting on the roof. What will it take to just get Robin alone?  This was getting ridiculous!

“Bad day?”  Marian asks, looking incredibly amused.

“I hate days we have to lie low,”  Robin complains.  “And I don’t like that new kid.”

“Why not?”  Marian echoes Peter’s thoughts, not nearly annoyed enough.  “He seems rude, but he doesn’t seem that bad.”

“He said he has nowhere to go, but he’s acting like he just wanted to play orphan for a little while,” Robin says.  “What if the Sheriff sent him?  He’s been trying to frame Friar Tuck for years!”

“I think you’re giving the Sheriff too much credit.”  Marian rolls her eyes.  “Maybe he’s just a kicked out rich kid that doesn’t get he’s really been kicked out?”

“You’re a kicked out rich kid, you didn’t act like that,”  Robin argues.

“I’m very mature for my age.”  Marian grins. “You should at least give him a chance.” Maybe Marian isn’t as annoying as Peter had thought.  Robin grumbles out a maybe and they move to talking about things that don’t interest Peter at all so he heads back to bed.

 

Robin sneaks out, quite often, Peter notices in the following days.  Usually with some of the others.  He notices it’s the usually the younger ones.  Maybe that’s why he’s so interested, because Robin has his own little set of lost boys on the mainland.

“It’s not like that,” Tinkerbell says when Peter suggests this, scrunching her nose at the very idea.  “Robin is nothing like you Peter, you’re  _perfect_.  Robin is not even close to perfect.  He cares, and worries, and other boring stuff like that.”  She says.  Well, she has a point, he does seem to care an awful lot and that’s a boring quality. Something else must be going on with Robin when he sneaks out.

Peter tries to follow them one day, because he’s incredibly curious, but Marian quickly intercepts.  

“Where are you going? You've not finished your mending.” She says, like she hadn’t noticed Peter watching Robin.  Peter’s sure she did.

“Where’s Robin going?” He returns, frowning at her.  He doesn’t mind that Robin doesn’t listen to him, yet, but he hates not knowing everything.

“He’s finished his mending, he can do whatever he’d like.”  Marian brushes off his question.  “Finish up, or no lunch.”  Well, that wasn’t very motivating, Peter wouldn’t eat lunch anyway.  He had his own food, things Tinkerbell had collected from Neverland when she was too mad to talk to Peter.

Still, Marian watches him like a hawk after that.  There’s no way he’ll be able to sneak away.  Tomorrow he’ll have to finish his mending before Robin, and maybe wait somewhere Marian can’t get in the way.

It’s while he’s planning this that Sheriff Nottingham makes an appearance.  It’s impossible to miss, what with the way he slams the church door open.

“Oh dear.”  Friar Tuck sighs, standing from his paperwork.  “You kids should go up to your rooms, this will be over shortly.”  He tells them before disappearing into the church.  Marian starts directing the orphans upstairs but Peter’s not about to miss this.  Quietly, he pushes the door open, just a crack, so he can listen.

“There you are, ‘good Father’.”  The Sheriff, a towering man with strong muscles and a smile that would put a pixie to shame, greets the frail Friar.

“Good after Sheriff.” Friar Tuck returns.  “What brings you here?”  

“Thieves, of course. Your blasted orphans have been stealing all over town.”  The Sheriff says.  Was that what Robin was sneaking off to do?  He really was perfect for Neverland, if only Peter could get him alone.  The Sheriff and Friar continue to talk, though it’s not much of a conversation.  The Sheriff repeats the same vague threats, while the Friar assures him there is nothing to be threatened over.  It’s halfway through these threats that Robin returns, his best friend in tow.

“Ah, here’s the little thief herself.  Still wondering around acting like a boy I see.”  The Sheriff says, smirking cruelly down at Robin.  

“I’m not acting.” Robin manages through clenched teeth, his hands curled into fists.  “And I’m not a thief.”

“How you allow such an abomination to live in a church I can never understand.”  The Sheriff turns back to the Friar, whose smile is a lot more strained.

“God has simply gifted Robin with a unique experience, knowing he will get more from life as he is than as you or I will.”  The Friar says calmly.  “The others are in the back, still mending, if you would like to join them.”  He tells the two.

“If she were really a man, she’d go out and get a man’s job.  Not sit around mending.”  The Sheriff goes on as Robin and his friend head towards the door.  He moves out of the way as they enter.

“So, you’re a thief?” He asks when the door is shut, careful not to let the Sheriff hear him.  Robin and his friend, their name had never been important enough for Peter to learn, jump at the sudden voice.  They hadn’t seen Peter as they entered.

“I am not a thief.” Robin hisses, also mindful of his tone.

“You’re certainly a terrible liar.”  Peter comments.  Even the youngest of his lost boys can do better than that.  “What did you steal today?”

“We didn’t steal anything.” Robin’s friend chimes in because Robin looks like he’d rather punch Peter.

“Where else would you have gone?”  Peter asks.

“To look for jobs.” The friend answers.  “We’re almost too old to stay here, we’ll need some way to support ourselves.”  

“Well that’s boring,” Peter complains, frowning at the two. If they were lying, Robin’s friend was definitely better at it.  “Thieving’s a perfectly fine way to support yourself, you know.”

“No, it’s not,”  Robin says firmly.  “I’m going to find the others, let them know what jobs we saw.” Well, now Peter knows they’re lying. Robin really is a terrible liar. Still, he lets the two pass him. He’ll have to follow them tomorrow, just to see what was going on.

 

“Tinkerbell.”  Peter starts that night, talking quietly to his sulking pixie.  With each passing day she grows more and more annoyed that he refuses to return to Neverland. Peter didn’t understand her annoyance, what was a week away when he’d spent lifetimes there?  

“I refuse to help with this.”  Tinkerbell huffs, her back turned.  

“Aw, come on Tink.” Peter pouts.  “You have to help me sneak out tomorrow.  I’m so close to finding out why he’s so interesting, I can just feel it.”

“He’s not interesting!” Tinkerbell snaps.  “He’s just another boring adult.”

“He is interesting.” Peter frowns.  For a moment the conversation pauses before Peter grins as an idea comes to mind.  Surely, this will convince her.  “You want me to go back, right?”

“Yes!”  Tinkerbell says, loud enough her tinkling makes the other boys shift in their beds.  “Neverland misses you, Peter, you’re the King, remember?”  

“Well, I’m not going back without him.  So, you should help me get him.”  Peter argues. Tinkerbell doesn’t say anything more, but she doesn’t turn back to him either.  Time to pull out his ace, Peter decides.  “You know Tink, I bet he’s pretty smart.  He’s a terrible liar, but he hasn’t gotten caught yet.  Robin might just be what we need to beat Hook.”  

If he’s honest, Peter hasn’t thought of Robin like that in a while.  But Peter’s never honest.  So, he doesn’t tell Tinkerbell he hasn’t thought of Hook in days, that even Neverland itself leaves his mind some moments.  It isn’t his fault!  Robin is just that interesting.  Although, it isn’t just Robin.  On his first day, Peter had thought the mainland boring.  It’s grown on his since then, he finds himself enjoying the mending and enjoying the conversations around him.  It’s so different to Neverland.  He’s not the centre of attention here, and the others don’t constantly look to him, unable to even  _think_  for themselves.  Peter likes it.

Not that he’ll tell Tinkerbell any of that.  No, Tinkerbell only needs to know what’ll make her help him.  Bringing up Hook should work, Peter knows she hates him.

“Okay.”  Tinkerbell agrees, finally turning to him.  Peter forces himself not to smile wider, that might tip her off.  “But only if you promise you’ll return to Neverland after.”  She bargains.  

“I promise I’ll return to Neverland when Robin wants to, and no sooner.”  Peter carefully phrases his promise.  They’re important to pixies, in a way they could never be in humans. Pixies lie and manipulate, it’s part of their nature, but promises and deals are as sacred to pixies as they are to any fae.  More pixie than human, Peter is just as bound by them.

Were Tinkerbell not so annoyed, she’d be proud he’d so easily avoided her trick.

 

There is no better day for Peter to follow Robin.  Thieving is good, he knows, but getting caught thieving is not.  That day, Robin very nearly gets caught.

Robin Hood is good at what he does.  He’s been a thief all his life, that sort of practice makes you good at it.  But even the best can make mistakes and his mistake is a rich man with a permanent scowl.  The man had a nice pocket watch that Robin knows he can pawn for a decent sum. So, he carefully grabs it when the man isn’t paying attention, like he has a million times on similar men.

How is he to know the man would go to check the time, just after Robin had nabbed the watch?

“My watch!”  The man shouts.  “Someone has stolen my watch!”  That draws attention and Robin is still too close.  He needs to get out of here.  

“Did someone say stolen?” That’s the Sheriff’s voice, shouting from the other side of the marketplace and no doubt making his way over. Shit.  Robin’s screwed now, if he runs the crowd will catch him, if he doesn’t the sheriff will.

Isn’t he lucky Peter followed him?  A crowd has started to gather around the man, a mix of the curious and the concerned. Silently, Peter joins that crowd.

“I bet it was that vendor over there.”  He pretends to whisper, although he’s careful to make sure the man can hear him.  “He got awful close when trying to sell that ink, and then he looked mad when the guy refused.”  There’s dust in the air as he speaks, though no one notices.  It settles over the man’s eyes and he turns to the vendor.

“You!”  He shouts, storming over to the vendor who quickly stutters out arguments.  Peter grins and turns to find Robin, whose staring right at him with a frown.  It doesn’t bring down Peter’s good mood, not in the slightest.  He quickly makes his way over to Robin.

“Let’s get out of here, before that Sheriff gets here,” Peter says, grabbing the other boys wrist and pulling him from the crowd.  Not so fast as to be noticed, not until they turn off into an alley.  Then Peter starts to run so fast that, for a moment, they fly.  He only stops when they’re far enough away to be safe.

“What are you doing here?” Robin demands after both catching his breath and getting over his shock.

“Saving you, like the hero I am.”  Peter grins. It doesn’t seem to soothe Robin’s suspicions.

“How did you know I was there?”  He rephrases.

“I followed you.” Peter answers.  “You’re not very subtle, you know, and you’re a very bad liar.” He adds.

“I’m very subtle! You’ve just been obsessed with me since you got here!”  Robin defends.  “Why’s that, huh?  Are you working for Sheriff Nottingham?”  He asks accusingly.  Peter frowns at the very idea.

“Gross.”  He says.  “Even if he wasn’t an adult I wouldn’t, he’s worse than a goblin.”

“Then why are you watching me all the time?”  Robin snaps, sounding frustrated.  He doesn’t understand it.  Peter has been acting suspiciously since he arrived, Robin was sure that meant he was a spy for the Sheriff.  But then, Peter just saved him from the Sheriff.

“Because you’re interesting,”  Peter answers, like it’s obvious.  “I want to know why I feel so draw to you, even though you already act like an adult.”

“I’m not an adult.” Robin quickly denies, in a way that makes Peter’s grin widen.  He knew it. “Not yet, I still have almost a year.” He adds, mumbling.

“You could have a life time if you come with me.”  Peter offers. “You’d never have to be an adult ever.”

“What the hell does that mean?”  Robin narrows his eyes a little further.

“I know a somewhere you’d never have to grow up,”  Peter explains.  “Don’t you want to go?”

“No.”  Robin refuses.  “I don’t know what place you’re talking about, but I have no interest in leaving.  Not until I have to.”

For a moment the refusal confuses Peter, but then he realizes.   _This_  is why Robin feels so interesting.  Peter’s never been drawn to someone that doesn’t want to leave.  When he found Wendy, he was following her desire to never grow up, but she still  _wanted_  to leave.  With Robin, all he could feel was the fact he didn’t want to grow up.  If Peter wants him, he’ll have to convince Robin to leave. He has to ruin whatever is keeping Robin here.  That should be easy.

“Why not?”  He asks.  

“Because it’s my home, and the others need me.”  Robin answers.  

“So?”  Peter presses.  

“What do you mean ‘so’?” Robin repeats, frowning deeper.

“I mean so what.” Peter shrugs.  “Why would that stuff matter?”  It doesn’t matter to him.  Obviously, or he’d be on Neverland now with his lost boys.

“Because I care about them?” Robin answers.

Care.  

Peter frowns at the word. That’s a weak emotion, a boring one. No pixie bothers with it.  Care just holds humans back, that’s what Tinkerbell says.  Without care, Hook never would have been a problem in the first place.  

But Robin says the word like it’s normal, like it’s odd Peter didn’t just guess that.

“Why?”  Peter has to ask.  Just because he needs to know so he can make Robin not care, of course.

“Are you serious?” Robin asks, sounding annoyed and frustrated.

“Of course.”  Peter frowns.  “Why would you care?  What’s it for?”  For a second, Robin just stares at him, trying to figure out if Peter’s just pulling some bad prank right now or not.  He looks sincere.

“I care because they’re my friends,”  Robin says. “I don’t want them to suffer.”

“I don’t get it,” Peter says.  “What do you get out of that?”

The words stun Robin into silence because they sound so… innocent’s the only word he could of, but it’s not quite right.  They sound like Peter really doesn’t understand.  That’s when Robin realizes, he doesn’t.

Peter honestly, truly, does not understand why Robin would care.  Peter doesn’t understand  _emotions_  at all.  Robin doesn’t know if Peter can’t understand them, at least not the way Robin can, but he’s willing to bet no one tried to teach him how in the first place.  That’s why he was acting so odd and suspicious. Robin takes a deep breath and decides someone some needs to try to teach him.

“I get people that care about me in return.”  He explains, suddenly sounding a lot less frustrated.  “They don’t want me to suffer either, so we work together.”

“I get that even if I don’t care,”  Peter says, sounding proud about it.  Robin takes another deep breath, trying not to get mad again.

“That’s not a good thing.” He finally says.  That seems to surprise Peter too.

“Yes it is.  it means I get something and I didn’t have to give something up.”  Peter frowns. “You’re a thief, that’s how it works for thieving too.”

“It’s different,” Robin claims.  “When I steal, I take from the people it won’t hurt.  That guy back there can buy himself a new watch, it won’t change his life.  But that money can help people like us at the orphanage.”  He tries to explain.  “What you’re talking about is using and hurting people.  It’s not the same.”  Peter doesn’t understand, Robin can tell.  

But Robin can tell he’s trying to understand too.  This isn’t going to be easy, that’s obvious, but it’s something he should do anyway. They head back to the orphanage and Robin continues to explain good from bad as best he can.  He pulls Peter into the Merry Men, because there’s no one more suited to the task of showing Peter how emotions work.  

Marian’s all for it. She makes a start teaching Peter the world goes beyond him and his interests, the first time he talks to one of the others while they’re mending she considers it a small victory.  

Little John doesn’t like it, not one bit, but they trust Robin, so they help.  When Peter’s on the streets, because he refuses to not be involved in their thieving, Little John makes sure he’s stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, not just stealing from everyone.

Robin thinks the others got the better ends of the stick.  It’s easy for them, they get to demonstrate things.  Robin’s the one that has to explain the finer details to Peter. Usually they sit on the roof, sometimes Robin’s bed, and Peter just asks endlessly about concepts Robin isn’t quite sure how to explain.  Friendship, kindness, trust, sharing.  He wants to help, and he doesn’t mind helping, but the whole thing is giving him a headache.

A serious headache, actually.  There’s a constant painful ringing in his head whenever Peter’s not around.  It makes it hard to focus, and he’s almost gotten caught twice because of it.  Not that he tells anyone, of course.  It’s Robin’s problem to handle, and he doesn’t want to worry them over nothing.

He hopes it’s nothing.

 

Tinkerbell had hated James because it tethered Peter to his humanity.  It reminded Peter of emotions the pixies wanted him to forget.  It was why she had worked so hard to get rid of it. She hates James more now because it spends its days trying to ruin her hard work.  Helping lost boys escape, trying endlessly to remind Peter of his human blood, teaching adults to protect themselves from her whispers.  Tinkerbell can’t want for the day Peter finally runs James through with a sword.

Robin, however, oh with Robin she would not be content with something so quick.  James is a pain in her wings, but James is often unsuccessful. Especially with Peter.  For all the years James has spent attempting to save him, it has made no progress.  Robin has done it without even trying.

It has been lifetimes since Tinkerbell has felt these emotions in Peter.  Her only solace is that they are only stirring, not waking.  She can still fix this if only she can get rid of Robin.

But it not that easy, of course it is not that easy.  There is the promise to think of, and Peter, and the fact the boy seems guarded against her. Not intentionally, she’s sure, but the pixie dust in Peter’s blood seems to fight her own magic.  She cannot simply manipulate Robin.

So instead she will send it insane, it’s the only choice she has.  She will chatter into its ear until it walks itself off a cliff.  She’s done it before, many times.  Of course, she mustn’t let Peter see her doing so or he’s sure to be furious.  Hard, what with Peter sending every moment he can with the boy, but not impossible.

The first problem… well, she’s working on that one.

“Peter, it has been months.” She points out one day as Peter eats a Neverland apple.  “I’m getting tired of flying you your food, you know.”  A lie, of course.  Tinkerbell isn’t about to stop and let Peter eat mainland food, especially not now his emotions are stirring.

“I’m working on it Tink.” Peter brushes off.  He’s not, she knows he’s not.  “Robin doesn’t want to leave still.”

“I know a trick that’ll make him want to leave with you, right away.”  She says.

“There’s no fun in just tricking him,”  Peter claims. He never would have said that, not before Robin.  Tinkerbell hates it.  “I want to convince him.”

“But Peter, the lost boys will be gone by now.”  Tinkerbell points out.  Hopefully, Neverland would have killed them all, there’s no use for them without Peter. “It’ll just be the two of you, no one else.”  She says. Peter had always been possessive, it was a trait they’d groomed early.  Even Robin could not have ruined that yet.  

Peter pauses and thinks a moment.  “What’s the trick?”  He asks. Tinkerbell tries not to grin.

“Give him a Neverland apple.”  She says. “If he eats it, he won’t be able to resist Neverland.”  It’s not quite that simple, of course.  Neverland apples made Neverland irresistible, yes.  But they were also deadly to those without pixie blood.  If Robin eats it, he’ll die a slow and silent death.  It’s a risky move for Tinkerbell, she knows, it’s why she’s waited so long to bring it up.  But if they get to Neverland first, and they should have time to get to Neverland, she is sure she can misdirect Peter’s anger.

“I’ll give it to him tomorrow.”  Peter decides, holding up the second apple, none the wiser to its deadly effect.

If Tinkerbell weren’t so proud of herself, she’d be disappointed in him.

 

Tinkerbell waits impatiently for Peter to give Robin the apple.  She reminds him endlessly throughout the day, tugging on his possessiveness and excitement every time.  As focused on Peter as she is, Tinkerbell forgets to scream in Robin’s ear. Despite her whisperings, Peter holds off until nightfall.  When he sits with Robin on the orphanage roof, stargazing.  Marian hasn’t joined them that night, it’s late and she wants her rest.  This is the perfect opportunity, both Tinkerbell and Peter know it.

“I got you something,” Peter says, pulling the apple from his pocket, a charmed one with more space than should be possible.

“You got me something?” Robin repeats, sounding surprised. “How nice of you.”  He adds with a grin, bumping Peter’s shoulder.  This is a win, he thinks.  Peter isn’t the selfish boy that had arrived a few months ago.

“Isn’t it?”  Peter smirks, handing over the shiny yellow apple. As Robin takes it, Peter thinks of all the fun they’ll have on Neverland.  He’d never have been able to convince Robin to leave without magic, now he’ll he be able to have Peter all to himself.  That’s…

Peter frowns as he thinks through that sentence once more.  A pixie would consider this victory, the end of the game.  A pixie would be elated.

But he’s not.

Robin wouldn’t want this, Peter knows.  A pixie wouldn’t care but Peter… but Peter does.

Hidden away, Tinkerbell’s eyes widen as her plot begins to unravel.  Emotions long dormant don’t just stir in Peter’s chest.  They wake up.  They warm a heart long stopped by Neverland, by pixie magic, and forced cruelty.

Peter Pan becomes more human than pixie.

“Wait.”  He quickly says, grabbing Robin’s wrist not a moment too soon.  

“What’s wrong?”  Robin asks, frowning at the panic in Peter’s expression.

“You can’t eat it,” Peter says.  “It’s not a normal apple, I’m sorry.”  The words just confuse Robin further.  He looks back to the apple he’s holding then yelps, throwing the quickly rotting fruit away.  The illusion is gone.  

“It would have killed you.” Peter realizes, staring wide-eyed at the place Robin threw the apple.  “She tricked me.”  He adds, growling as surprise is overtaken by anger.  Golden dust falls from his eyes, but Tinkerbell does not see that.  She does not like to lose, she refuses to accept this is a loss.

With all the speed she has, she flies to Robin’s in and begins to scream.  She will end its life herself, no matter how mad Peter may get. Once they are back on Neverland she will fix it.  

“Ah!” Robin winces as she screams, drawing Peter’s attention to Tinkerbell’s actions.  

“Don’t you dare!” Peter snaps, grabbing her before she can avoid him.  He holds Tinkerbell firmly in his fist, keeping her from escaping despite her struggles.  

“What the hell is that?!” Robin shouts, stumbling back from Peter. The pixie dust that hid Tinkerbell is useless now that Peter has drawn attention to her.

“It deserves death!”  She hisses though pointed death.  “It is trying to ruin you, but I won’t let it.  I won’t lose.”  She claims, still struggling in Peter’s grasp.  It doesn’t loosen, not even when she bites him hard enough to draw blood.

“You’ve already lost,” Peter tells her coldly.  “I’m not going back to Neverland.”  The words make Tinkerbell freeze.  No,  _no._ She will not allow this.   _She will not lose_.

“You will.”  She tells him, but she can’t push and pull at his emotions anymore.  The words hold no magic.  “It’s better in Never.  You never have to grow up there or do any boring work.  It’s fun in Neverland.”  It has been centuries since she’s needed to tell Peter those things. This time they don’t work.

“I promise you Tink, I will  _never_  go back to Neverland,” Peter says, his tone serious in a way she’s never allowed it to be.  Tinkerbell has lost.  

“We will kill you for this,” Tinkerbell growls, turning her dark expression to Robin.  It’s Robin’s fault she has lost, and she will make it suffer for doing this to her.

“No.”  Peter refuses.  “You will promise me no pixie will ever hurt Robin.  You’ll promise me no pixie will ever come near him, or me, or anyone we care about.”  Tinkerbell hisses at that word.   _Care_.  Stupid, ridiculous human care.  She despises it.

“I won’t,”  Tinkerbell claims.  “I will make sure he dies, and I will make sure everyone you  _care_ ,” she spits the word, “for follows him to death.”  

“How are you going to do that without your wings?”  Peter threatens, smirking when Tinkerbell tenses.  Without her wings, Tinkerbell will nothing.  It won’t kill her, but it will rob her of her magic and no pixie would ever accept her again.  Peter knows this.

“You wouldn’t.”  She tries to call his bluff.  “You have emotions again, you don’t have the guts.”

“Are you willing to bet?” Peter asks, he uses free hand to hold the tip of Tinkerbell’s wing.  “Promise me.” He orders.  Tinkerbell just grits her teeth.  Without pixie guidance he’ll never be able to do such a thing, she tells herself.

Except humans can be almost as cruel as pixies, she knows that.  It’s why they started this game in the first place.  Peter tugs on her wing and she yelps.

“How much more do you want to lose tonight, Tink?”  Peter asks, knowing just the right words to break her resolve.  She has already lost Peter, revenge is not worth losing again.

“I promise Peter, no pixie will ever come near you or those you care about again.”  She hisses out.  When Peter raises his eyebrow, she forces herself to continue.  “Or anyone  _Robin_  care’s about either.”  She snaps.

“Good,”  Peter says.  He opens his fist, dropping Tinkerbell into the open air.  She barely catches herself in time.  “Go.”  With one final glare, Tinkerbell flies away.

“What the hell just happened?”  Robin asks after a long moment.  “What was with the apple?  And that thing?  And you?” He asks, trying to find any sort of sense in it all.  Peter doesn’t answer, he doesn’t even hear the questions.  He’s too busy burning up from the inside.

How long has it been, Peter wonders, since he felt emotions like these?  Was it before James left?  Or was it further back, before he ever gave himself up to Neverland?  How many years ago were either of those things?

He doesn’t know.  

He doesn’t know and he doesn’t  _understand_.  How did he let this happen?  Why couldn’t he see what the pixies were doing to him?  James had seen it, James had tried to help.  And Peter had tried to kill him, many times over. There was something else he’d done, he’s sure, but he can’t quite remember.  Even now there are memories too clouded with gold dust to see.

“Peter?”  Robin calls his name softly this time.  His confusion can wait, he decides, this is more important. Genteelly, he places his hand on Peter’s shoulder before quickly pulling it back when Peter flinches.  “It’s okay.”  He offers when Peter finally turns to look at him.

“It’s not,”  Peter says, shaking his head.  His cheeks feel wet and it takes him a moment to remember what crying is.  

“I’m here for you, okay. Whatever just happened, I’m here for you.”  Robin assures, kneeling next to Peter and cautiously pulling him into a hug.  Peter sobs against his shoulder, gripping the back of Robin’s shirt tightly.  They sit like that until Peter’s too exhausted to cry anymore.  Then Robin carefully helps him back into the orphanage.

“You can sleep with me tonight, if you want.”  Robin offers quietly when they reach his bed.  The beds are small, barely big enough for one person, but Peter nods anyway.

 

In the morning, no one teases them for it.  Little John plans to, but then they see Peter’s heartbroken expression and they decide against it.  They, and everyone else, gives them space that day.  Robin and Peter don’t join the Merry Men after they’ve finished their mending.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat before,”  Robin comments at lunch as Peter takes slow bites.

“You haven’t,”  Peter confirms.  “I don’t know the last time I ate mainland food.”  Robin frowns slightly but doesn’t press.  Yesterday, Peter wouldn’t feel bad about Robin’s confusion.  Today he does.  Robin deserves an explanation, he knows, but he’s not sure how to give it.  “I’ll explain later.”  He promises.

“Only when you’re ready.” Robin brushes him off.

 

It takes a week for Peter to get used to having a full range of emotions.  His guilt still feels heavy, but it stops being all-consuming. The other new emotions weren’t as dramatic as his guilt, but they were all still too much and too many.  Now there still too many, but they’re not too much. He feels more normal than he ever has.

“You’re looking better today.”  Marian notices it first, when he joins them for breakfast.

“I’m feeling better today.” Peter smiles, trying not to laugh at the double meaning behind the words.  “Sorry for being such a downer all week.”  

“Don’t be worry about it.” Robin says before Marian or Little John can get over their surprise at hearing  _Peter_  apologize.  Especially for something he doesn’t need to.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,”  Marian says when she recovers.

“I need to see if pigs are flying.”  Little John announces.  They look completely serious about it, even as the others laugh.  

Things only go uphill from there.  There’s a whole world beyond himself, Peter learns, and it’s not half bad.  He starts talking to the others, starts making friends, becomes a real member of the Merry Men.  Peter accepts adult doesn’t equal evil, and Friar Tuck is actually a kind man. Robin’s case doesn’t seem so ridiculous, the more time passes the more Peter starts to really believe in it.

Of course, he’s still Peter. He still enjoys borderline dangerous pranks, and sometimes does things that make Robin frown in that disapproving way. But now he has a heart and it’s, usually, in the right place.

Still, he breaks his promise.

Peter never explains what happened that night.  Robin’s nice enough not to ask.  It’s odd to pretend something never happened when it changes you as much as that night changed Peter.  But he does, because he’s terrified.  

How will Robin react if he discovers how horrible Peter really is?  There’s no good outcome, Peter’s sure.  At best Robin will hate him, at worst he’ll make Peter leave. Then where will he go?  He can’t risk it, better to never to tell Robin the truth at all.

That’s how Peter spends the next few months.  He mends in the morning, talking with Marian and making the bored kids enjoy themselves. In the afternoon he steals and laughs with the Merry Men, always the go-to if they get into trouble.  After dinner, he and Robin go up to the roof and stargaze.  Sometimes Marian and Little John join, sometimes they don’t.  They’re the happiest months Peter’s ever lived.

Then comes a night that Robin goes quiet.  He goes up to the roof long before they usually do, completely missing dinner. Peter wants to follow him, but Marian says she will and she looks like she knows what’s wrong, so Peter leaves her to it.  When she climbs back through the window, Robin’s not with her.

“How is he?”  Peter asks, having sat by the window waiting for them.  Marian sighs.

“He won’t talk to me.” She says.  “You should head up, maybe he’ll talk to you.”  Peter hesitates at that.  He’s learnt a lot since leaving Neverland, but comfort is still something beyond him.  

“What about Little John? Wouldn’t they be better for this?” He suggests.

“John’s…”  Marian pauses, choosing her next words carefully. “John won’t understand.  To be entirely honest, I think I understand it either.”

“And you think I will?” Peter frowns.  What could he understand that they don’t?

“Yes, I do.”  She says it so confidently Peter can’t find another argument.  He still hesitates a moment before sighing.

“Okay, I’ll try.”  He gives in, climbing out the window and up to the roof.  Robin sits completely still, hugging his knees to his chest.  He’s staring at the city below for once, not the stars above. “Robin?”  Peter greets.

“I’m fine Peter,” Robin claims.  Peter really doesn’t know what he’s meant to be doing so he follows his gut and hopes for the best.  He sits next to Robin.

“I’ve told you, you’re a terrible liar.”  He says softly.  “What’s wrong?  I’m worried about you.”  For a long, long moment Robin is silent.

“It’s my birthday today.” He finally says.  “I’m eighteen.”

“You’re an adult.” Peter rephrases.  The words still feel heavy in his mouth, even if he’s changed.

“I have a week, and then I have to be out of here,”  Robin says. “Friar Tuck isn’t even meant to let me stay that long, but he knows I don’t have anywhere to go.”

“Where does everyone else normally go?”  Peter asks.

“The workhouses.” Robin answers.  Peter’s never seen a workhouse, but he’s heard enough to hate them.  “Technically, I’m already meant to be in one.  So I could have money to move in somewhere.”

“We have enough to get a house, don’t we?  From stealing.”  Even as he says it, Peter knows it’s not true.  They steal as much as they can, and usually that’s a lot.  But it’s not just for them, it’s for the entire orphanage, and the people that come begging, and whoever else needs it.  No matter how much they steal, it’s never enough. Worse yet, the loses never seem to bother the rich they steal from.

“Even if we did, how are we meant to explain that?”  Robin sighs. “I don’t have a choice Peter.  I have to, I have to find a job.”  He forces his way through the sentence.  

“But you don’t want that.” Peter frowns.

“It doesn’t matter,” Robin mumbles into his knees.  “A week from now I’ll have to start working. I’ll try to send as much money back as I can spare.”

“You say that like you won’t come back.”  Peter points out.  Robin doesn’t say anything.  He doesn’t need to, he’s said enough before.  The workhouses work people to the bone for next to nothing, slowly killing them.  If Robin goes, he’ll barely have the time off to rest and he’ll need all the rest he can get.  Maybe things would be different if they had options, but they don’t. They’re orphans, the workhouse is the only place that’ll take them.

“I know someplace you’d never have to worry about this,”  Peter says quietly.  It’s been a while since he’s thought of Neverland.  “No workhouse, no extra mouths to feed.”

“We both know I’d never go,” Robin says.  Peter nods.

“Neither of us would.” He says.  “But maybe we should make our own Neverland, one that really is better than here.”  

“How are we meant to do that Peter?”  Robin frowns.

“Leave it to me,” Peter says, plans already forming in his head.  Robin sighs.

“Okay Peter, I’ll leave it to you.”  He says, like he doesn’t really believe Peter’s going to figure it out.  That’s okay.  Peter will just have to prove it to him.

 

There’s still pixie dust in his veins.  It falls from his hands sometimes, leaving a trail of golden dust as he goes.  At first, Peter had panicked.  Now he knows it’s not a bad thing, because with pixie dust comes pixie magic.  With pixie magic comes a way to get out of trouble, and a way to keep the Sheriff off their backs.

He’s hoping it’ll also keep Robin from the workhouse.  

When he leaves that afternoon, Peter doesn’t follow the Merry Men to market.  Instead he finds a quiet, empty spot and thinks a happy thought. He flies through London, searching for old and empty houses.  They’ll need somewhere to live after all, and Peter doesn’t want it to be small.

The house he finds is near port and it’s perfect.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  The house he finds is a mess.  In fact, it’s such a mess it’s been condemned.  What makes it perfect is the address on the sign marking it condemned. An address that leads Peter to an office in a fancier part of London.  

“Hello sir.”  Peter greets the man at the desk, who startles and looks up.  It doesn’t take much pixie dust to go unseen.

“Who let you in here?” The man demands, sounding frustrated and overworked.  Perfect. Gold dust falls from Peter’s hands.

“I’m here about the house you’ve condemned, the one on the port.”  He says instead of answering, directing the man’s annoyance to his work. The pixies always complained that adults were harder to manipulate, but Peter thinks they weren’t tugging in the right places.

“Argh, that mess.” The man huffs.  “That’s just more paperwork I have to do before I can go home tonight.  How hard is it to get a damn house knocked down?”

“Ridiculously hard,” Peter says.  “Wouldn’t it just be easier to sell?”  He suggests.

“Bah!  We tried that, no one would buy it.  It was too expensive, too old, not in a nice enough part of town.”  The man complains.  “Besides, selling is just as annoying as condemning it.  I had to deal with advertisements, and all the potential buyers just wasted my time.”

“That does sound annoying.” Peter nods, just barely keeping his grin back.  “Oh! I’ve got it!”  He announces.  “You should just give it away.”

“Give it away?”  The man repeats, still frowning.  More gold falls from Peter's hands.

“Then it’d be someone else’s problem.”  Peter nods. “They’d have to sell it or condemn it, and you wouldn’t have to do any more paperwork.”  The suggestion settles in the man’s head as Peter’s manipulation pays off.

“What fool would fall for that?”  He asks. Peter pretends to think.

“Well, just to help you out, I guess I could take it off your hands,”  Peter says, as though it were one great burden.  “I’ll just need a small fee.”

That night, Peter leaves with the deed to a house and money enough to pay for repairs.

 

Peter doesn’t go back to the orphanage that night.  Or the night after that.  He has too much work to do on the house.  Pixie dust hides the house, and makes heavy lifting easy, but it can’t actually fix the place up.  Peter has to do that himself.  It’s not terribly difficult, he made more than one treehouse on Neverland, but there’s a lot to do.

On the morning of the third day, he decides it’s done enough that he can show it off.  Besides, Robin’s running out of time.  Peter hopes he hasn’t been looking for jobs while he’s been away.  

“Peter’s back!” Someone shouts the second Peter walks through the door.  Before he can manage a ‘hi’, Peter finds himself surrounded by worried kids all trying to ask him different questions.

“Calm down guys, I wasn’t gone that long,”  Peter says, surprised they seemed so worried.  He’d disappeared for days back on Neverland and no one ever got this worried. The lost boys were always happy to see him return of course, but that was different.

“Peter!”  Marian shouts, breaking through the younger kids and wrapping him into a tight hug.  “We were so worried.”  She says, sounding like she’s been crying.

“I’m fine,”  Peter assures.  “Where’s Robin, I have something I want to show him!”  He grins.

“He’s out looking for you,” Marian says.  “We thought the Sheriff got you Peter.”  She adds, quieter.  

“Oh please, I’d like to see him try.”  Peter brushes her off.  “I’ll go find Robin.”  

“No, you will not,” Marian says firmly.  “You look horrible Peter, have you been eating? You definitely haven’t washed up at all!”  

“Uh… I think I had something to eat?”  Peter says, trying to recall if he had been eating.  He never still never gets hungry, though he knows he still has to eat.  Is that why his hands are shaking?

“Oh my god Peter. Come with me.”  She takes his wrist and pulls him into the kitchen, pushing Peter into a chair.  “Sit here and do not move!  I’ll tell Friar Tuck you’re back, so he can get you something to eat.”  She says.

“Yeah, yeah.”  Peter sighs but he does what’s he’s told.  Even he knows when not to go against Marian.

When she returns, Marian takes the seat next to him, her face still painted with anger.  “Where have you been?”  She demands.

“It’s a surprise.” Peter grins back.

“What are you talking about? Peter, you’ve been gone for three days, I need more than ‘it’s a surprise’.”  Marian says, frown deepening.

“But it is!”  Peter argues innocently.  “Robin gets to see it first, then you and Little John can come.” After all, the house is  _for_  Robin.  It’s only fair he gets to see it first.  Peter made sure there were spare rooms for the Merry Men, but it was for Robin. Marian frowns at him a moment longer before sighing.

“Well good luck explaining that to Robin, he’s barely slept since you disappeared.”  She says.

“He shouldn’t’ve been so worried.”  Peter brushed off.  “I’m me, I’ll be fine.”

“We know you think that Peter, but you vanished without a word to anyone.  Considering our daily activities, we’re thought the worst.” Marian tries to explain.  

“Marian, the only one better at stealing than me is you,”  Peter assures.  

“Just next time please leave us a note or something, okay?”  She says.

“I can’t write, and no one here can read.”  Peter points out.  “I couldn’t leave a note.”

“Well, you still could have left a message with one of the Merry Men.”  Marian huffs.  “Maybe I should teach you to read and write, then they’ll be no excuses.”

“Sure, that’d be fun.” Peter shrugs, thanking Friar Tuck as the man arrives with his breakfast.

“Let me know next time you plan to leave for so long Peter.”  The man says softly.  “We were all rather worried.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Marian’s been lecturing me since I got back.”  Peter rolls his eyes.

“And Robin will lecture you when he gets back too.”  Marian hmphed, sounding quite pleased about it.  

“He’ll understand when he sees the surprise,”  Peter assures.

 

They send the fastest of the Merry Men, one of the younger girls, to find Robin when lunch hits and he hasn’t returned.  Robin almost beats her back.  He races into the mending room, completely out of breath, and for a moment just stares at Peter.

Then he storms over.

“What the hell were you thinking, going missing like that?!”  He shouts.  “Do you have any idea how worried I was?  We thought you’d been arrested or something!  I thought Nottingham was going to have you hung!”  

“I’m fine Robin,” Peter stresses for the thousandth time that day.  “I’m sorry for making you worried, I have a great excuse I promise.”  He grins.  

“You are entirely too happy with everyone being mad at you.”  Little John comments from the doorway, also out of breath.  

“What’s this ‘good excuse’? It better be bloody brilliant Peter or so help me god.”  Robin warns.

“Robin.”  Friar Tuck scolds.  He didn’t like the lords name being taken in vain, or swearing.  Normally they were more careful around him.  Robin must really be mad.

“I was working on something for you,”  Peter says. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

“No way, you have to do your three days of mending before you could go anywhere,”  Marian shoots down.  “And mine and Robin’s share too.”

“Why not mine?” Little John complains.

“You’re too good at mending.”  Marian grins.

“Oh, come on.”  Peter pouts.  “The sooner Robin sees it the sooner you will.”  

“I don’t care. Mending.”  Marian refuses.

“Marian,”  Robin says.  “I want to see whatever this good excuse is.  He can do the mending when he gets back.”

“Are you going to make sure he does it?”  Marian asks.

“Yes.”  Robin nods, pulling Peter up from the chair.

“You know, I’m not liking all this being pulled around,”  Peter complains.

“You should have thought of that before you ran off on us.”  Robin snaps.  

“Be back before dinner you two.”  Friar Tuck warns.  “Especially you Peter.”  The boys call agreements as they leave.

The trip to the house is silent.  Peter is bubbling with excitement that Robin doesn’t share.  He walks before Peter, arms crossed against his chest and a frown on his face.  He frowns further when Peter aberrantly stops.

“We’re here.”  He announces, turning to face a house Robin hadn’t noticed just a second ago.

“At a house?”  Robin frowns.  It’s more a mansion really, though it doesn’t look to be in the best state. Robin has no idea how he could’ve missed it until now.

“At  _our_  house.”  Peter clarifies, grinning ear to ear as he walks to the door.  “I’ve done most of the fixing up, but there’s still a couple of things here and there.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Robin exclaims, not following Peter.

“I said there’s still some work to do,”  Peter repeats.

“No, not that.  The part about this being  _our_  house?”  Robin clarifies, glaring at Peter’s smirk because he  _knows_  Peter knew what he meant.

“I got us a house,” Peter repeats, as though it were that easy.  

“ _How_?”  Robin stresses.

“Faith and pixie dust.” Peter grins.  “Come on, don’t you want to look?”

“This can’t really be our house.”  Robin mumbles.  He looks both ways hesitantly, trying to see if anyone’s watching them, before finally following Peter to the door.

“I’ll even show you the deed,”  Peter says. Robin watches intently as he unlocks the door with an actual set of house keys.  Not a fancy lockpick.  A real set of keys.

“There’s no way this is real,”  Robin mumbles, even as he follows Peter through the door.  Inside, the house is nice in a simple sort of way.  The rooms are plain and the few pieces of furniture left are old. It’s was still the nicest house Robin’s ever stepped into.  Even the orphanage church wasn’t so nice.

They step first into a large front parlour, which leads into an only slightly smaller back parlour. On the left are a kitchen and study, and the right leads into a small hallway.  The stairs are at the end of the hallway and against the other wall are the bathroom and a small bedroom.  Upstairs there are more bedrooms, four to be exact, and a large sitting room.  There’s even another bathroom.  Robin hadn’t though the city even  _had_  houses this large.

“There is no way you bought this house Peter,”  Robin says, even noticing all the equipment Peter must’ve been using to fix it up.  A lifetime in the workhouse wouldn’t afford a single room in this house.

“I never said I bought it.” Peter grins.  “I just convinced the guy to give it to me.”

“You convinced him to give you a mansion?”  Robin frowns.

“Yep!  It was condemned because no one could afford it. But that’s a lot of work, it was just easier to give it away.”  Peter explains proudly.

“How’d you manage that?” Robin asks.  Peter could tell he wasn’t buying it, so Peter leads him back down to the study where he’d left the deed.

“I just talked to him.” He says as they walk.  “Even I thought it was easy.”

“Peter, seriously, what really happened?”  Robin presses, still frowning.  Peter rolls his eyes and walks over to the desk that had been left in the room, too old to bother trying to resell.  He pulls the deed from the draw and shows Robin.

“You really got a house.” Robin breaths, holding the signed paper like it’s the most fragile piece of glass he’s ever held.

“I got  _us_ a house,” Peter says.  “This way you don’t have to worry about ending up in a workhouse. We can move the Merry Men base of operation to here, and there’s probably some legal way we can make money off the house to.  I’m sure Marian will have some idea for that.”  He grins.  

Robin’s silent, just staring at the deed and imagining all the things he can do now there’s no threat of ending up on the streets.  He doesn’t mean to start crying, really, but the tears are slipping down his face before he can stop them.  An hour ago, Robin thought himself a man condemned.  Standing with a noose around his neck when he’d never even been arrested.

“Robin?”  Peter asks worriedly.  “I’m sorry, I thought you would have been happy.”  

“I am,”  Robin assures, voice wet.

“But you’re crying.” Peter frowns.  There’s still a lot he has to learn about emotions.

“They’re happy tears,” Robin explains, setting the deed back on the bench so he can hug Peter tightly.  “Thank you, Peter.  This is perfect.”

“I’m glad you like it.” Peter smiles, returning the hug.

“But next time, tell me before you run off like that, okay?”  Robin says words muffed a little by Peter’s shoulder.

“I know, I know.  You were all worried Nottingham got me.” Peter rolls his eyes.  

“I wasn’t worried about that,”  Robin whispers.  He pulls away just enough to look at their feet.  Robin means to look Peter in the eye, really, but he can’t find the courage. “I thought… you said the only reason you showed up was because of me.  When you disappeared like that, right after I told you I was leaving, I thought you just… you just left.”  

The explanation surprises Peter.  He thought little about everyone’s worries before because he thought them baseless. Sheriff Nottingham couldn’t even dream of catching him.  He’d told them that hundreds of times before.  But… but this…

It’s different.

Peter knows he’d never leave Robin.  He knows he’d never leave the Merry Men.  But how are they meant to know that?  He’s never told them that.  And Robin, at least vaguely, knows Peter left everything to come here.  The lost boys, Neverland, Tinkerbell.  Robin doesn’t know the finer details, but he knows enough that it’s not a baseless worry.  Guilt swirls in Peter’s gut and he lifts Robin’s head to look him in the eye.

“I’d never leave you.” He promises, tone serious and soft. “Not for anything.”  Robin stares at him, looking for any sign of doubt. When he doesn’t find one, he leans in.

Peter’s never kissed anyone before.  He remembers, vaguely, what kissing is and what it means but pixies have no use for such things and so neither did he.  Even now he hasn’t thought much about it.  But standing there in a house he got for Robin, with Robin’s arms wrapped around him, and his lips pressed together, Peter remembers what love is.

 _Oh_ , he thinks as the emotion comes to mind,  _that’s what he’s feeling right now_.  That’s what he’s been feeling for a while now.  Love for a man who helped Peter at his most insufferable.  Who takes only what he needs and gives away everything else.  Whose the exact opposite of what Peter was, and is everything Peter wants to be.

Peter holds Robin a little tighter and kisses him back.

 

When Marian and Little John see the house, they love it.  Marian instantly starts making plans for what business she can start. Anything but mending, she decides.  She doesn’t want to impact the orphanage's profits, and besides, she’s already done that.

“We could do tailoring. Just straight up tailoring, not mending, we’ll have to pool some of the Merry Men profits for supplies but it’ll be worth it.”  Little John suggests as the four sit in the front parlour, brainstorming.  

“I’m a terrible tailor.” Marian frowns.  “Mending I can manage, tailoring is harder.  I think you’d be good at it though, and I could do the bookkeeping.”  She says.

“I can find us a shop in town.”  Peter offers, grinning.  It’d be fun to use some more pixie dust.

“No way, I don’t know how you got this house, but I feel like it’s wasn’t foolproof.”  Robin quickly refuses.  “We’re near the port markets here, and since we don’t usually hit that up for Merry Men work it’d be safe to set up a stall there.  Cheap too.”  He suggests instead.

“We could sell other things too.”  Marian hums. “I can offer letter writing, that should be popular in port.”

“I like wood carving, I could make some stuff for the stall too,”  Peter says.

“It might take a little while to get it all off the ground.”  Little John points out with a small frown.

“Well, it’s not like we need to worry about money except for food, Merry Men business is usually enough for that.”  Robin reminds with a small smile.  They aren’t words he thought he’d ever be able to say.  

“Then it’s settled! We’ll start a stall in the port market.” Marian grins.  

 

Things fall into place easily.  Robin moves into the house and Peter and Marian go with him.  Little John plans to stay at the orphanage until their eighteen, since someone needs to make sure the mending gets done.  The Merry Men visit before and after market trips, planning and keeping track of what they grab.  Robin makes sure to take only what they need before giving the rest to Friar Tuck, who splits it between the orphanage and the needy.  

When their stall at port starts to bring in profits, what they need from the Merry Men becomes less and less.  Little John and Marian stop joining the Merry Men in market altogether and focus entirely on the stall while Peter splits his time between the two.  Some of the Merry Men start helping out and it begins to grow until they can afford a small store in port, not just a stall.  They make friends with the other stores and suddenly the orphans have more options than just the workhouse.

Little John moves into the house when they turn eighteen.  Some of the Merry Men make it a halfway home between the orphanage and getting their own place.  Others stay their indefinitely, sticking solely to the Merry Men like Robin does. Things aren’t perfect.  There are still struggles, and still too many people suffering, but they get as close as they can.  

At night, Peter would argue things  _are_  perfect.  Dinners are always loud and happy, with as many Merry Men as want to join them.  After dinner is always calm.  Peter and Robin share a room with a balcony and most nights they sit there, stargazing. Sometimes Marian and Little John still join them.  Sometimes they don’t.

One day Peter catches his reflection.  It’s been three years since he left Neverland and the person that stares back isn’t a boy anymore.  He’s aged, Peter realizes.  His reflection is a little taller, with a sharper jawline, and stubble on his chin. He supposes he should have expected it, but it’s still surprising to see himself a man.  A grown-up.

Peter turns away from his reflection with a smile on his face.

The days are long, and they’re always busy.  He works now, and he ages, and he doesn’t play all that many games.  But Peter doesn’t miss Neverland one bit.

And many, one day, he’ll have the courage to tell Robin all about his time there.

 

**Author's Note:**

> [Don't forget to check me out on tumblr!](http://kails-musings.tumblr.com/)


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